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iraODORE DOSEMT 




A (flmmemorative Sermon 
By flie Kfevjames S.Stone,DD. 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



The tumult and the shouting dies — 
The captains and the kings depart- 
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, 

An humble and a contrite heart. 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget, lest we forget ! 



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1 



Theodore Roosevelt 



A Sermon Commemorative 

Preached in St. James's Church, 

Chicago 

On Sunday, January 12, 1919 



By the 

Rev. James S. Stone, D.D. 
Rector 



Chicago 

DAUGHADAY Ic COMPANY 

1919 



. J*--y^mf9^fp7tiI>a^K^vextm,n Mr,.-9mMigwaM-:^BMa^'^ 






Copyright, 1919, by 
Jambs S. Stone 



ad 

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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

II Samuel ill : 38. "Know ye not that there is a prince 
and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" 

WE knew that he would die; and yet 
we never thought of death when we 
thought of him. He was the embodiment of 
life: the concentration of its energies: a force 
guiding, controlling destiny: a master among 
the masters of men; and when the news came 
that he was dead it struck us with sur- 
prise. For the moment it seemed that in tear- 
ing from earth's heart one of its choicest and 
mightiest souls Death had outdone itself. We 
were silent: stunned as it were. Theodore 
Roosevelt was dead! 

And he was taken away at this time : when 
we felt that his country, and verily the world 
itself, had most need of him. Little did we 

[I] 




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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

think that his work on earth was done. Lit 
indeed, can we judge of the present or discc 
indications of the future. The days to co 
lie before us, and we have to go through the 
but thick darkness covers them as black nij 
concealed the primeval chaos. 

But when we consider the matter more te 
perately and carefully we are led to ask, 
this man, or any other man who has proi 
himself worthy of life and has been a help 
his fellows, is really dead? Does death dest: 
personality as well as imperil influence? D 
that interruption in what we call life actua 
end life? Is Washington dead, or Lincc 
or any of the men who wrought so wondrou 
for the country they loved and served? 
Christian believes that they with their spl 
did and helpful gifts have perished. 

And when our thoughts turn to the man 
now commemorate, though we know not i 
what form or sphere or mode of existence 
has entered, and know not how his persona! 
affects this present life, yet we are satisf 
that he himself survives, and with him mt 
ory and affection, the essential attributes 
human nature. "I know there is someth 

[2] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

grand," were the last words of a scholar and 
statesman some years since, as he lay dying. 
Into that "something grand" Theodore Roose- 
velt has entered, and we may be sure that there 
will be given him scope for the use of the 
powers which distinguished him here. He 
lives on ! 

But though mystery envelops personality, 
there is no such mystery about influence. 
Theodore Roosevelt had an influence on the 
men and affairs of this country which has 
shaped, and will shape still more, the course 
of this country's development. Ages after his 
work is forgotten, and his name has become 
dim in the past, the effects of that work will 
still remain in the nature and character, the 
very fibre, of our national life. And this fol- 
lows from the surpassing worth of his charac- 
teristics, and the force with which those char- 
acteristics were displayed and used in his day 
and generation. 

A man such as Theodore Roosevelt could 
not live and acquire prominence in any age 
and country without creating diversity of 
opinion concerning himself. Every man in 
the land either liked him or disliked him. No 

[3] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

man who knew him could be indifferent c 
cerning him. And the likes and dislikes w 
undoubtedly very strong, sometimes ve 
mently so. They could not have been otl 
wise. Theodore Roosevelt rarely said a w 
or did a deed without arousing admiratior 
denunciation. You agreed with him, or 
disagreed with him; and you were bounc 
do one or the other. A strong, direct, incis 
outspoken, fearless character such as his 
bound to have that effect. 

For years to come there will be division 
opinion as to his politics and policies. I 
not say diversities of opinion, but divisi 
for he was too definite in his utterances 
actions to scatter opinions or create vari( 
of opinions. He cut straight and clean. P 
were with him altogether, or they were 
with him at all. Nor do I suppose that 
was otherwise than he expected. He k 
that all men could not think alike; and tho 
a strong nature and clear vision, such a; 
had, probably regretted and wondered at 
fact, yet his generosity was as great as his < 
victions, and saved him from intolerance 
injustice. 

[4l 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

I may not presume to suggest judgement in 
matters which are too great for me, but this 
fact stands out as clear as the sun in a cloudless 
sky: that in his public life, as well as in his 
private life, Theodore Roosevelt had neither 
sympathy nor patience for anything that was 
not clean, honest, open, and above-board. He 
denounced wrong-doing in all its forms. Nor 
did he fear or respect the man, no matter what 
his wealth or social or political position, who 
endeavoured to secure his purposes by out- 
witting his neighbours, by dubious interpreta- 
tions or guileful twists of facts, by the weak- 
nesses of the community, by the insidious and 
scarcely perceived corruptions of changing 
times, or by precedents even though their in- 
jurious tendencies had been concealed and fos- 
tered by traditions and usages. 

I do not say that other presidents had not 
been equally anxious to carry out like reforms; 
but many of the evils he combatted were not 
necessarily evils in the days of his predeces- 
sors. They looked all right, and were judged 
to be all right. But use and new conditions 
changed their nature. There have been times 
in the history of both the American and Eng- 

[5] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



11 ' 



lish peoples when a man was thought no 
less worthy to sit in legislature becaii 
obtained his seat by bribery, and rarely 
to bed sober. To-day such practices a 
verely reprobated, and would be suffici 
ruin the career of the cleverest man. Is 
doubts that there were things condone 
deed not so much as even noticed, in the 
days of the Republic which would now r 
tlie most vigorous denunciation. There 
was an institution yet established by ma 
had not, entwined even among its good 
ties, the tendency to corruption. Even ecc 
tical societies are not exempt from this u 
sal law. The Church herself has had to 
formed, purified, and renovated many 
over in its long history, and it cannot be 
tioned that m this country, as in all cou 
from time to time, financial and comn- 
corporations, no less than legislative anc 
cial establishments, need investigatioi 
readjustment. They would not be hun 
they did not. But the necessity of upl 
does not make upheaval attractive to the 
ties affected. The Church had to be refo 
and was reformed; but in the proci 

[6] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

reformation she promptly burned and damned 
her reformers; and modern corporations sur- 
render to change, and though they cannot 
excommunicate and consign to torture the 
advocates of change, nevertheless they do not 
necessarily love the man who compels the 
change. 

I am not claiming for Theodore Roosevelt a 
righteousness unkno\\-n to other statesmen, but 
I am affirming that he seized his opportuni- 
ties, and wrought his changes fearless of con- 
sequences and opposition. And thereby, of 
course, he made enemies. He may have grieved 
over them, but he did not fear them. The 
bitterest enemy he ever made never thought 
for one moment that Theodore Roosevelt was 
afraid of him or of any other man on earth. 

No man in the United States was ever more 
widely and generally popular than he, and 
possibly the word "enemy" may be too strong, 
especially if the epithet be taken to include all 
that is meant by "enmity." I do not suppose 
that the most furious adversary of Theodore 
Roosevelt's plans or reforms ever went so far 
as to entertain malignant hatred for him per- 
sonally. His doctrine might be disagreeable 

[7] 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELl 

and inexpedient, but it was at least hone 
had at times to deal with other than ge 
foes, but even such men knew that he 
gled for principle and not for self; a 
the other hand, though, from the very ii 
osity and ruggedness of his nature, h 
have been what the world calls a "good 1 
he was also a chivalrous and magnai 
one. No man was more ready than he t 
to arguments of worth superior and mo 
elusive than those on which he had i 
his opinions. His desire for informatii 
insatiable. And yet no one imagines t 
convictions were ever in a state of flux, 
were not reached until he was satisfied 
deepest depths of his heart and the 
recesses of his mind that they were 
Then they were as adamant. He cl 
them as tenaciously as limpet clings t( 
Apart from his almost unfailing memo 
skill to grasp, arrange and apply deta 
penetrating, courageous dialectic, and 
dustry that never fagged, he had an ii 
an intuition, for the right thing and t 
thing. This impulse differed not ii 
from that which other searchers aftei 

[8] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

possess, but its intensity went far beyond that 
which most men have, even men who claim 
the genius for statesmanship. And one can 
say this without claiming infallibility for his 
decisions or distance for his visions. 

Moreover he had the saving and sovereign 
grace of humour; though not, let us admit, in 
the measure of an Abraham Lincoln, with 
whom in so many particulars he may be justly 
compared. Possibly the gift was too subtile to 
attract attention, but he had a sufficient per- 
ception of human incongruities and inconsis- 
tencies to save himself from taking too seri- 
ously and too solemnly the whims and fancies, 
the assumptions, prejudices, and determina- 
tions of people who differed from him. The 
anger of opponents, the twists and turns of 
adversity, the failure of hopes and efforts, 
might disappoint, but they did not depress. 
He could fight, and he could laugh. He could 
rush to the fray, and he could wait his chance. 
He could win without boasting; and he could 
lose without repining. Men might beat him 
in the race, but they could not keep him down. 
This mingling of downright common-sense 
and genial humour served him to the last; and 

[9] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



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though, comparatively speaking, he tolc 
stories, yet he enjoyed anecdote, apprecia 
happy simile, vivified an archaic and pi 
esque word, and yielded to the emotions v 
affect most naturally the human heart, i 
journeyed through the country, even oi 
political tours, in the most exciting of 
paigns, speaking in the cities to multitud 
enthusiastic hearers and in the village 
groups of no less loyal adherents, he i 
forgot that first of all, and all the time, h( 
a man dealing with men. He sought to 
but he would win, not by drawing out th( 
that lurks in the crowd, but by animatin 
good — by stirring up and inflaming pa 
indeed, never for error but always for t 
never for the wrong but always for the i 
But all this is over now. He is no lonj2 
this world's politics. To-day we may be 
that though men are still divided over his 
cies, and will be for some time to come 
his foes are one with his friends in c 
honour to the man himself. Both friends 
foes unite in ignoring party sympathies 
animosities, and think above all else o; 
magnificent Americanism. 

[lO] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

For Theodore Roosevelt was the incarna- 
tion and interpretation of the ideals and as- 
pirations of this country. I do not say more 
so than other men, or more exactly than other 
men; but in so emphatic and definite a man- 
ner that the country regards him as illustrative 
of a type, and as a type, not so much unique or 
exceptional, as desirable and worthy of emula- 
tion. He had the skill to touch and vivify in 
a remarkable way those traits which you feel 
almost instinctively are necessary for good 
citizenship, and especially for leading citizen- 
ship. He was able to embody those traits in 
his own life. He not only professed them, 
but he lived them. And yet, great as he was, 
it may be taken for granted, he had not in the 
same proportion all the traits we admire and 
wish for. In some qualities, being a man, he 
may have been deficient; but he certainly had 
such as strike the imagination, and lie at the 
foundation of the social fabric. 

Not one of these ideals, aspirations, and 
traits, I repeat, was peculiar to him. Apart 
from his surprising energy, unwavering 
determination, dauntless courage, and physical 
and mental powers, the qualities which lifted 




Boo'j 



THEODORE ROOSEVEL 

him far above most men, he was ( 
among his fellows. You admire hin 
much because of his ideals and aspiral 
traits, as though they were peculiar to 
because they are the same ideals, as 
and traits that you yourself possess, or 
vinced you ought to possess. He bi 
what you are satisfied the perfect 
should bring out. He is the pattern \v 
feel that people of this country shoulc 
and not only should follow, but whi 
right-minded citizen tries to follow. 
Thus you think of his loyalty not 
America, but also to that indefina 
nevertheless clearly understood, spirit 
ity known as Americanism. It is no 
the country — its mountains and pr£ 
rivers and forests, its material resou 
natural beauties, — that makes us Ar 
but much more a spiritual attribute 
sition which we receive partly frc 
partly from our ancestors, and partly 
surroundings, and which enters into 
soul enters into the body, and makes 
a living thing. I do not know that 
define the term "soul"; nor is it neces 

[12] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

we should seek to define the term "American- 
ism." We are perfectly aware of what both 
terms mean. And for generations to come, 
when the instructors of youth shall endeavour 
to describe the perfect, all-rounded, pure, and 
unselfish citizen of the Republic, the personi- 
fication of Americanism, — nay, let me go still 
farther and say, when they would depict an 
ideal man, — they will speak in glowing ad- 
miration and widening wonder of Theodore 
Roosevelt. — 

"He was a man, take him for all in all, 
I shall not look upon his like again." 

His strength was used for the support of the 
weak. His individuality was given unreserv- 
edly to the welfare and upbuilding of the com- 
munity. Personal aggrandisement and ad- 
vantage were never allowed to separate him 
from the brotherhood of man. He spared no 
pains, he hesitated at no sacrifice, he recog- 
nized no discouragement, where he could 
serve the public interests. To him the State 
came first of all : himself far behind. No man 
ever charged him with neglect of duty. He 
would have reproduced in this country the 

[13] 



» Ki 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

condition which Macaulay fondly tells us 
existed in Rome: — 

"Then none was for a party; 
Then all were for the state ; 
Then the great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great." 

Theodore Roosevelt, however, was 
than a statesman. His gifts were varie( 
pursuits many. As a scholar and writ 
attained significant rank in the literary v 
His interest in scientific and economic 
tions was keen. He was a born leader of 
and won laurels in the army. His lo 
travel and adventure carried him inti 
depths of African forests and the wil 
South America; while as a sportsma 
stands with ancient heroes among the m 
hunters before the Lord. Whatever h 
he did with enthusiasm and thoroughness 
was a remarkable man in every way. 
with that strength of character, that 
thought and positive conviction, were 
bined a gentleness and unselfishness, a t 
solicitude for others, which made his 
and family life happy and beautiful as 

[i4l 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

disc itself. No breath of scandal was ever 
wafted into the sanctuary of his life; no ser- 
pent's trail ever lay across his threshold. Mil- 
ton portrayed no sweeter, purer home in Eden. 
There dwelt the loveliest fairies ever vouch- 
safed mortals: peace, confidence, affection. — 
Sorrow came; the boy died in France; and 
tears flowed deep. But the tender, stalwart, 
great-hearted father would have the loved one 
sleep the long sleep where he fell, and thanked 
God that another of his race had struggled 
and bled for the cause of freedom and right! 
"Great men are the guide-posts and land- 
marks in the State," says Edmund Burke. 
They become more, when they are able to 
win hearts as well as to control minds,— when 
the attractive traits of human nature appear. 
Then they not only point the way, but they 
also lead through the unknown wilds. And 
in order to lead, they must have the power to 
inspire confidence and to draw out the devo- 
tion of the people they would lead. To gain 
this confidence and devotion, more is wanted 
than the ability which would make a name 
merely monumental. Unless they can awaken 
imagination and enliven the homelier and 

[IS] 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

more common virtues of good fellowship 
stand simply by the wayside, useful h: 
cally, but otherwise dead memorials, 
with this gift, this living sympathy ■^ 
makes the world akin, men draw near to 
and love them. Theodore Roosevelt h 
In the hearts of the multitudes who lis 
and followed him reverence and afif 
united in blissful harmony. They wer 
isfied that he was one with them, in 
domestic life no less than in their po 
life. Thus, without encroaching on hi 
sonal dignity, or violating that reserve ' 
became him as a leader and a man, and 
out thought of disrespect or advantage 
out of purest admiration, the people of i 
ica spoke of him as "Teddy." They fel 
they owned him. He was theirs in a 
that few public men have ever been, 
would not have happened had they nc 
cerned in him more than mere genius 
could not only advise and counsel then 
he could also understand their hope 
fears, their troubles and anxieties, thei 
rows and their joys. If he despised ar 
nounced the harshness and cruelty of v> 

[i6] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

doing, he stood for the toiler who had suffered, 
and knew him as a brother. So that men saw 
in him, not the grandeur of a giant, astonish- 
ing and repelling, but the majesty of a man, 
winsome, brotherly, unfailing, and humble. 
He hated race-suicide, and urged the purity 
of marriage and the extension of family. His 
veneration was warm and clear for the dignity 
of womanhood, the sacredness of child-life, 
the mystery of old age. No knight of by- 
gone days set lance in rest more valiantly than 
he in defence of honour. Nor would fancy 
wander from truth in picturing him as never 
happier than when he looked into the glad 
eyes of friend who loved him for himself 
alone. It did not need close contact for even 
the stranger to realize something of this. But 
they of his inner circle, into which the world 
might not enter, doubtless could say to us, 

"You know him slightly. We, wlio knew him well, 
Saw something in his soul you could not see." 

That Theodore Roosevelt was a Christian 
goes without saying: a Christian, and not in 
name only, but in deed and in truth. Baptized 
into Christ, he worshipped regularly before 

[17] 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

the altar of Christ. Notwithstanding hii 
life, his intellectual activities, his social c 
he found time for his public devotions, 
was not above religion. Like Foch and 
and Pershing, and many another might; 
on whose skill and courage the salvati 
the peoples has depended, he humble 
heart and bent his knee. God still spc 
him, and he knew that his strength lay i 
lowship with God. But for God he hi 
made himself what he is to-day: a standa 
men to look to, — not only a citizen c 
world, but also a practical, earnest, d 
follower of Jesus Christ. You may form 
idea of the character of his religious 1: 
recalling his favourite hymn, "How f 
foundation." The lines in that hymn, whic 
read at his funeral, have no uncertain s 
They suggest no feeble, sentimental aspii 
no languishing wish which a weak wor 
might indulge in under a temporary em 
but they express a vigorous, strengtheni 
surance in the never-failing power of Go 
in His unwavering adherence to His pro 
We do not doubt that this strong spiri 
man who had swayed the minds and he< 

[i8] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

multitudes, who had stood alone as a ruler of 
a mighty nation and as a wanderer in silent 
wildernesses, majestic and masterful wherever 
he was, yet, in the simplicity of his soul and 
the earnestness of his faith, had found his way 
to God, and now abides in the rest of heaven. 

"Put out the light, please." — His last 
words: not knowing that for himself earth's 
lights would never more be needed. A few 
minutes in the dark; and then the dawn of 
endless day! 

On the most beautiful of all beautiful days, 
the Feast of the Epiphany, he went to the land 
where the light is eternal, and this past week 
his body was laid in the quiet, country church- 
yard, with simple rites and by solitary priest, 
followed to the grave by his sons and daugh- 
ters and neighbours. There was neither the 
pomp of ceremony nor the peal of organ or 
roll of drum. The Church refrained from 
splendour; the State kept silence. No guard 
of honour; no vested prelates; no tolling bell. 
A man, a father, a friend was buried. That 
was all! All save this: the love of the folk 
he had lived with — the love of a nation that 
he had loved ! That was as the warm sunshine 

[19] 




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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

of a summer day, precious as the smile of 
Thus he was gathered to his fathers. I 
ine if you will, that which scarcely painte 
depict and only poet can describe, eithe 
sublimity and grandeur of Theodore R 
velt when he said "Quentin shall st; 
France," or the sublimity and grandeur ( 
scene in which, under the wintry sky, ami 
stillness of the winds of heaven and the 
less trees and the afifections of men, one ( 
greatest geniuses of this generation wa$ 
ried to his grave! 

The words of Tennyson concerning 
Duke of Wellington are no less applical 
Theodore Roosevelt, — a worthy comrai 
Valhalla of the man to whom England 
her highest honours: — 

"His voice is silent in your council-hall 
For ever; and whatever tempests lour 
For ever silent; even if they broke 
In thunder, silent ; yet remember all 
He spoke among you, and the Man who spo 
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour. 
Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power ; 
« » * * » 

— his work is done, 
But while the races of mankind endure, 

[20] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Let his great example stand 

Colossal, seen of every land, 

And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure: 

Till in all lands and thro' all human story 

The path of duty be the way to glory." 




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